PHOENIX — Hello from the Valley of the Sun, where it is currently a very comfortable 91 degrees. Relative humidity: 5 percent. With the wind chill factor, it only feels like 87 degrees. Have to say, it's incredibly nice to get away from the stickiness of D.C. for a couple of days.

The Nationals open an 11-game, West Coast trip tonight against the surprising Diamondbacks, who have won 14 of 16 and have taken over first place in the NL West. With left-hander Zach Duke on the mound for Arizona, Jim Riggleman is eschewing his usual righty-heavy lineup and going with Roger Bernadina in left field and Rick Ankiel in center field. The reason: Ankiel is 5-for-8 with a homer in his career against Duke, one of the few lefties he hits.

Jordan Zimmermann is on the mound, hoping to continue his hot streak. Zimmermann has tossed five consecutive quality starts, allowing only two runs in four of those outings.

Interesting factoid I ran across on ESPN Insider …Apparently, FanGraphs has developed a new stat to measure base running called the UBR or ultimate base running.The Diamondbacks rank 3rd behind the Rangers and Reds. The Nats have appreciably improved and are now tied for 8th with the Mets.In 2010 the Nats had a negative number and ranked 23rd. The Diamondbacks had a negative number and ranked 26th.

So, as per usual, Riggleman takes out one of his hottest hitters against one of the hottest teams in baseball … they are actually playing "smart ball" better than his guys as well as all the other things? Ankiel's numbers against Duke is the excuse? After the game Nix had? Well at least he doesn't have Ankiel leading off … that was ridiculous."Riggleman" the antonym for "winning".

Ankiel led off that game with a hit, if you'll remember.How is that possible @anon6:43 when he was a late inning replacement in the ninth inning from a double switch and Nix left the game? What team are you watching again dude?

Geez Annoymous 6:34 – are you gainfully employed or is it your job to go on EVERY Nats-related message board to flame Jim Riggleman?I don't like to tell people this but in your case it's time – Dude, get a life. We know you want Riggleman fired. Nothing new to see here now move along.Don't know who is worse. You or that Poop guy.

@MarkZ: Enjoy the low humidity of the western slope while you can. This series against the D-backs should be an interesting one from a pitching aspect. Their starting staff is not necessarily built to dominate games, so we'll see how it plays out.

Well, checking the numbers, Rick Ankiel is batting .625 (in 8 AB) against Duke and Bernadina is .500 in two AB…so that could be one reason. Nix has never faced Duke.I'm still not thrilled with the lineup, assuming Nix isn't hurt.

Geez Annoymous 6:34 – are you gainfully employed or is it your job to go on EVERY Nats-related message board to flame Jim Riggleman?Sheesh anon7:10 PM sounds like the pot calling the kettle black as they say? Where do you find the time to police all of these Nats blog sites? That must be far more time consuming. Clearly one of those entitlements people or maybe a trust fund baby? Perhaps you need to take your own advice @anon …

Ankiel is also batting .258 against LHP while Nix is a lowly .167.I don't love the move, but I totally understand it. And at least he kept Bernadina in there to leadoff. I'd expect Nix to come in once we get into the bullpen and shift Bernadina to center.I wonder when the line is where they start making some roster moves. Slaten and Stairs have clearly overstayed their welcome, but they seem hesitant to cut the strings. Is it a factor of there being no one they want to bring in? Or are they just giving these guys some leeway to hopefully turn it around?

Can't stay up for the late ones, so will hope for a happy game results email in the morning and look forward to reading Mark's game thread after the fact. Go NATS!!Enjoy the dry desert air (you had to go there, didn't you? ;-)).

For the Anons on Nix. He has never faced the lefty Duke before and having him sit against a lefty won't cool him down as he will start Friday and Sunday most likely and Werth is due a dayoff so we may see Bernie in RF, Ankiel CF and Nix LF this weekend for a game. Maybe see Nix at 1st for Morse for a game.

@BinM,According to another advanced metric from fangraphs (the UBR being one) for overall defense the Diamonds currently rank 4th while the Nats rank 22nd. Last year . The Astro's are currently last. Last year the Pirates finished last. The Diamondbacks were 2nd, and the Nats 14th.

Maybe see Nix at 1st for Morse for a game.I believe Riggleman said he had Ankiel taking grounders there for that purpose. Ankiel said he hadn't played 1st since high school but he didn't think it would be a problem.

Ankiel's BA in 8 AB's is irrelevant. Small sample size. It's elementary statistics. That said, after beating the Phils 2 out of 3 I'll defer to Riggleman's judgment. In any case, he can't sit anyone for too long unless he's planning on converting him to a pinch-hitter. As disappointed as I've been in Ankiel's offense, he needs some starts. And his defense is very strong.

As disappointed as I've been in Ankiel's offense, he needs some starts.Operative word: "some". Not continuous. And Ankiel's offense matches the back of his baseball card as they say? He is exactly as should have been expected.

Grandstander said… Ankiel is also batting .258 against LHP while Nix is a lowly .167.____________________________Not only are there a lot of Trolls here who complain aimlessly but most won't do a lick of research.Teams pay 100's of thousands of dollars for advanced scouts to be the eyes and ears on top of stats.Bill B said… Ankiel's BA in 8 AB's is irrelevant. Small sample size. It's elementary statistics.Yes, a small sample size but there is still statistical relevance. As far as Ankiel's stats vs. Duke at 5 for 8 while it is a small sample it is better then relying on nothing.

Now, children , let's quit the arguing over whose blog posts are the most annoying. You could stand to talk about something else other than the fact that you want Riggs gone – what did he do to you, sleep with your wife? No wonder you are so anonymous all the time! Even I take a break from insisting that Matt Stairs retire once in a while. Go Nats! ( oh, and Riggs?please don't put stairs in a clutch situation or I might have to start trashing you , too.)

I think that we can take some solace from the way the DBacks got so go so fast: homegrown talent, smarter base running, better defense. We can do that…more next year than this, but we can do that! Thanks for the fan graphs stats, anon at 6:29. And anon at 7:10 thanks for trying to get the Riggleman hater to get that we know he hates the guy and doesn't need to keep harping on it. Go NATS!

Why does that picture of the stadium remind me of the docking bay on the Death Star? (I'm so confused about the team's identity after this past week that I really don't know what else to say at this point. Who are these guys? I don't usually stay up for west coast games, but tonight I feel a need to watch just to try to figure out exactly what we have on our hands. I think there's some theory in psychology/conditioning saying that that addiction is most strongly fostered by inconsistent rewards. If I'm remembering that right, this team's inconsistency and unpredictability makes it the baseball equivalent of crack.)

As a guide to help sort the various Anonymous posters across the Natosphere, I offer the following guideline, that is applicable to multiple Washington Nationals boards/blogs/commentaries… -If the poster uses multiple question marks in his commentary, it's probably peric/periculum/aeoliano/some kind of latin derivitive (80% probability). -If the poster uses worst and worse interchangeably, it's most likely peric/… (95% probability), and expect to get flamed if you call him on it (99% probability). -If the poster hates on Riggleman, or refers to him as Giggleman, it could be peric/… (80% probability); If he posts made-up lyrics to the "Gilligan's Isle", it rises to 99% probability. -If the poster hates on Ankiel, it could be peric… (70% probability). -If the poster tosses out the name of a minor-league player totally unrelated to the line of discussion, it's possibly peric/… (67% probability). I fully expect his on-line wrath for this, but post this in the hopes that others may learn the tell-tale signs. Expecting to get flamed by an Anon poster in 8..7..6..

Ernie: You've hit the nail on the head; The Nationals are our addiction. When they score, it's really good, and we're mostly blissful – when they don't, we tend to be cranky, angry, and somewhat paranoid.

So – is Cora available today? Has there been a report on whether or not he was just sick yesterday or if he has a concussion from his collision with ryan howard? Some nice hustle so far. Late game is killing me,though. Have to pull onto I-95 early.

That's our baby boy! Now – since this is not the american league – is he learning to play the field? Our hitters are causing me stress and it's too late for me to be stressed and so I must go to sleep.

I fully expect his on-line wrath for this, but post this in the hopes that others may learn the tell-tale signs. Nice prognosis Dr. BinM, But doesn't an MD have better things to do with his time than follow one poster across a dozen or more blogs? You were here when every other word was "Gascanrahan", "fire Acta", etc. and participated full. I am trying to enjoy watching this game and my "AAAA" (and yes you often accused him of that and of me for liking him now didn't you? Yes, you like to know all and see all like too many MD's) Oh, that was Michael Morse. And, sure I liked JD Martin too.If there's one thing that's pretty ridiculous its a hypocrite and @BinM that describes you to a "T".

thanks guys. still would like to see the play.I am just following the game on gameday. And it seems like too many line drives are being hit off of Zmann. Is he not pitching well, just lucky or gameday is not describing it right?

Watching the Diamondbacks' broadcast (on MLB.com) and the announcers are being very complimentary toward the Nats. Mark Grace is doing the color commentary and has described Riggleman as his 'favorite' manager, they both giving lots of kudos to Espinosa and Morse, and they're very impressed with Zimmermann. I recognize, of course, that these guys are not exactly hard-nosed journalists, but it's still nice to hear.

@FS: Zimm is pitching fine. He's pitching to contact instead of trying to fan everybody. So his pitch count is down. There's been maybe a half-dozen balls hit hard, but he hasn't rattled. He's fine. Hand it over soon to Clip/Burn/Store and we get the W.

11:13 p.m. — For those who haven't heard yet, Bryce Harper hit a walk-off homer tonight in the bottom of the 10th to lead Hagerstown past Greenville. That capped a 4-for-5 night for Harper, who did get picked off first base earlier in the game on a fake-to-third, throw-to-first move by the opposing pitcher._______________________________Anon8 posted on the Eckstein piece about Bryce Harper being picked off at 9:27PM and Andrew gave us the Bryce Harper Walkoff news at 10:40 so I wonder if Mark Zuckerman reads the comments given this: For those who haven't heard yet, Bryce Harper hit a walk-off homer tonight in the bottom of the 10th.

Thanks Sunshine. I guess I got too excited.I think they will opt to use Kimball or HRod than Clip or Burn, before calling on Drew. Clippard was used for last couple of games and Burnett has struggled a bit lately.

The DBacks are playing well, too. This is a good game . More hope for the home team (OUR home team, i mean). As long as our BP holds, we win. I was wondering if DBacks fans complain about Nady like we do about our old guys? Bet they don't have a Mark Z though…

A very enjoyable game indeed.Another excellent outing by Zimmermann, and a great bunt fake for a single. Glad he got us to the eighth, you never know, we made need the full bullpen tomorrow.Standing O to Morse for his fielding tonight.

Go Nats!For what it's worth, the D-backs' announcers are predicting a brawl before the series is over — basing it on the HBP on Upton, followed by the retaliatory (in their view) HBP on Werth, as well as Espinosa's stare-down of the Heilman. As Grace noted, over a four-game series the opposing players just 'see too much of each other and get tired of each other.'

g'nite JaneB and everybody else who stayed up late to watch this. We got another late one tomorrow night and also Monday and Tuesday from San Fran. Keep the herbal tea brewing those late nights, folks. Way to go, Nats.

BinM,You nailed the Peric "anonymous" posts. He's not fooling anyone once again!!! Wow, people here really do need to get real lives …What @BinM failed to mention is that he also likes to post anonymously on this site. He's the insufferable haughty spell and grammar corrector who likes to complain about people using "worst" and "worst" interchangeable. He's usually the one with the holier-than-thou arrogance that often parlays into the haughty MD. What he also fails to mention is that on the MASN site my posts are very clearly identified. I just don't like fighting with half-broken authentication mechanisms that don't work. Because that's what I do for a living and its wearying. I use a browser called Aurora and this site doesn't work. Often my Chrome browser gets mangled. And Safari. Because its what I do, yes I do sit in front of a lot of computers all the time it seems.So many people here make up names for themselves and change them on whim because that is the one part of this system that actually works quite well.So many hypocrites. Oh, well just like our congress critters … I guess it reflects the city and all of that …

For those who thought Riggleman didn't like Morse, Riggleman just did a post-game interview with Bob Carpenter and was all compliments about Morse.@Anon8Talk to Ladson who posted endless tweets about Morse being in the doghouse. Ladson talks mostly to Riggleman. Then there are all the endless double-switches he liked to do with him such as the time he hit 2 homers in 1 game and was out by the fifth. And as we've seen he can be a very good fielder with confidence and a chance. Now, to get that home run stroke back.

Grandstander said… Did anyone else see Riggs struggle to compliment Morse during the MASN post-game? What is this guy's problem? I would pay $100 to punch him in the face. Maybe we could make that a new promotion. June 3, 2011 12:51 AM______________________________That is Riggleman's personality. Why do you read into it.Ray Knight suggest early on that Morse could be an All-Star. That was mentioned on here by someone (maybe me) a few days ago and got some jeers. Still way to early on that but very nice what Morse is doing.

Riggleman played his bullpen perfectly. Don't worry about offending Coffey, get the job done. Well played Riggleman!Yes. Although I think he should have just hauled out H-Rod. That would strike some fear into any D-backs considering retaliation … hmmm perhaps that's why Riggleman didn't. H-Rod doesn't always have the best control on those heaters he throws … although the slider and change seem to be pretty decent where control is concerned.

Great win. I am glad the 2-1 epiphany game carried into this series … now if it can just snowball into a long winning streak!And besides being the first to notice Morse I also still think people underestimate one Trevor Holder.

@Grandstander,I listened to Riggleman … he isn't a Morse fan in the field but he did say that he is a hitter. That that is who he is. Yes he praised Werth's and Desmond's play (in spite of the "little slump" as Riggleman characterized it) in the field. Remembering how he preferred Guzman last year, basically what Riggleman is doing is complimenting his two clubhouse "leaders" in Werth and Desmond. That's what I read from it. That's just Riggleman. Riggleman admires Desmond's leadership qualities and apparently finds them quite value. Clearly Werth is a leader because of his contract and past with the Phillies … but let's wait and see what happens when Zim gets back.

Just got a chance to check all of the results from last night — I really wish I could have stayed up last night and bantered about with you night-owl posters. I will start my work day with laughter – not only because of the final score but because I am highly amused by all of your reactions to it!

When Adam comes off the DL, what to do with Morse? Michael has been hitting great, playing a terrific 1b, and his smile is heartwarming.The guy just exudes joy about the fact that he's playing MLBGreat start to this road trip. Keep it up you Nationals!

Along with that, Piero/Peric/Periculum/Atliano/etc doesn't cover his or her tracks well by coping and pasting verbatim the same things on various websites. Any sites free of the fool, well don't post here obviously. My guess is this engineer doesn't spend so much time on their craft.